Machine for and method of making knitted articles



V. MORRIS Filed Sept, 17, 1935 J Q v Sept. Z7, 1938.

MAGHINE FOR AND METHOD 0F MAKING KNITTED ARTICLES 50, when washing the arti-ae.

Patented Sept. 27, 1938 PATENT "o1-Fica MACHINE FOR AND METHOD oF MAKING KNITTED ARTICLES v Virgil Morris, Daisy, Tenn., assignor to-Richmond Hosiery Mills, ration of Georgia ville, Ga., a corpo- Application September 17, 1935, Serial No. 40,942 v s claims. (o1. ses-9) My invention relates to knitted articles, and more particularly to improvements in knitted socks, stockings, dresses, underwear, and the like, and to the method of weaving, floating, or other- 5 wise inserting into the knitted article, rubber or Lastex thread, or in making rubber or Lastex thread a. part of such article by an improved machine.

It has been the practice ,in the prior art to use l rubber, Lastex, elastic or other material which stretches in a knitted article to hold it in place on the body, when such article is being worn.

In the case of socks and stockings such lastex, rubber, etc. is made a part of the top in a rib- 15 hing machine while the other parts thereof are knitted in the regular .plain knitting machine, then by a separate operation the top is joined to the body of the sock or stocking through what is known as the loose course or transfer line. 2o Each of these operations requires additional equipment, added labor, and reduces the output, thereby resulting in added expense and increased cost of production,

It has been suggested that the tops be elimi- 25 nated, and the whole article be made in a single machine where the elastic material may be formed into the article as it is made by such machine. As l such operation comprehends that the elastic will be knitted into the article along with the yarn, it 30 is necessary for the needles of the machine to grab or catch the elastic material in the hooks and form stitches with it in the yarn of the article, and in so doing they cut or otherwise injure it and reduce its useful life. In some cases the elas- 35 tic material is entirely broken by the hook, with resulting delay and reduction of production.

Articles made by the above method will contain elastic material stitched therein about once every A four or five welts of yarn. This permits the forma- 40 tion of loops of elastic material extending around the inner circumference or wall of the article and permits the toe nails of the wearer to be caught therein, and break such material in putting on or removing the article jwith consequentannoy- 45 ance.` These loops of elastic material give an uneven contracting of the article about the wearers body, and anunsightly pckering or-bulging into pleats. Such loops also permit of easy breaking A knit in elastic also lends itself to many other disadvantages.` The stitches made with the yarn of the article retards or prevents relative movement between the yarn and the elastic material 55 so that localized stress cannot be accommodated by anincreased supply of elastic material over such area.

Applicant, with a knowledge of these facts, has, as an object of his invention, the overcoming of the above objections and defects by producing an article containing elastic material, which bears a different relation to the knitted yarn of the article, than has been known -by laying or oating the elastic material into the material of the article by a new and novel process.

The method is carried out by using the regular plain knitting machine as it is used to form the other parts of the sock or stocking orother garment. It comprehends raising every odd, or every other, needle of said machine (where the at top revolving cylinder machine is employed) to such a height that a finger in what is here called the latch ring feeds Lastex or rubber thread thereto below the latch of said raised needle, whereupon each raised needle is lowered and as the normally positioned needles are slightly raised the thread falls behind said normally positioned needles, then yarn is fed to the hooks of all of the needles over the elastic thread, and the needies, in their knitting operation of 'drawing the 25 new yarn through the oldloops on their bodies, shed the elastic thread over their tops and such thread is formed into the knitted material by a iloat about each stitch of yarn Yin saidy article.

This eliminates the necessity for theuse of a ribbing machine and the separate operation of joining the ribbed element to the body of the sock or stocking, with a resulting increased production at a reduced cost 'and some saving ofy material. It also prevents cutting of or injuring the elastic material by the hooks of the needles ordinarily employed to knit the elastic material with the yarn.

The article resulting from this process contains l elastic material of longer life in virtue of being 4o woven or floated into su'ch intimate' relation with the material of the article that it can hardly be noticed, and certainly is not subject to severance .or Ibreakage bythe wearer while removing it or putting it into place.A The elastic will also be free to move with respect to the strands of yarn oi the article to remove points of stress, and thus produce a constant and well distributed stretching oi' the elastic Ymaterial throughout its length, serving to increase its life. l|50 The invention will be clearly understood from the following description when read in connection with the attached drawing, of which the figure shows a needle cylinder slit and rolled out .flat with all of its associated elements. f J A Referring to the drawing in detail, the figure shows a cross-sectional view of a portion of a at top revolving cylinder type knitting machine, where a. cylinder is adapted to rotate about a vertical axis, and having longitudinal grooves formed around-its entire outer circumference into which needles i2 are slidably fitted, and also slidably seated in every other groove beneath each odd needle is a jack I3 for raising its accompanying needle. -Each of said needles l2 are bowed (not shown) to provide a friction fit in its groove so that such needle will remain in the position where it is placed or moved without auxiliary support, but the jacks are loosely iitted into the grooves and must always be supported by additional means when in raised position.

At the ltop thereof each needle is formed with v a hook ls and just below the hook and to the body of the needle is secured a latch Il.` Adjacent the bottom of each needle I2 is formed a lug i4, andl thread to the needles, and I0 designates a finger for feeding yarn for the same purpose. The clipping means for cutting the Lastex or yarn at the point where it is no longer desired to feed such yarn or Lastex has not been shown as it is standard equipment and acts in its well known and usual way. a designates a stationary Jack cam of greater height than that ordinarily employed and acts to raise the jacks through their lugs I5, and to raise their corresponding needles to a position where the finger 9 may feed Lastex or rubber thread 2 below the latch on each of said needles. b designates a stationary cam, shown in dotted lines, which acts upon the lugs I4 of the raised needles to lower them. c designates a stationary cam, dotted in, which acts upon lugs Il of the normally positioned needles, that is, the even needles which have no lacks under them, for slightly raising them. e designates a stationary cam, dotted in, for successively lowering all of the needles when such point has been reached in the revolution, by acting on their lugs I4. j designates a stationary cam, dotted in, for successively lowering the needles still further by acting on their lugs Il, and g designates a stationary cam, dotted in, for finally restoring eac of the needles to normal position.

'I'he operation ci' the machine and the process of inserting Lastex or rubber thread while making the article is as follows:

In the position shown each of the needles I 2 has a loop of yarn I around the body thereof, and

the needles are-moving as a part of the revolving Y cylinder II in the direction indicated by the arrows in the gure.

Beginning at the extreme right it is seen that every odd needle I2 is being gradually raised by its corresponding jack I2 since in their movement they are riding up the wall of thev stationary jack cam a,`while the adjacent even needles remain at their normal position unaffected by said :lack cam as they ride over it. -The oddf needles nnally reach their ultimate height as they successively pass the point where the finger i feeds Lastex or rubber thread 2 under the latch I1 but over` the heads of the normally positioned needles. All of the needlesthen successively pass to the cams b and c where the raised needles are gradually forced-downwardly by the cam b and the normally positioned needles are slightly raised by the cam c, which engage the lugs I4 on said needles. By this operation the Lastex or rubber thread previously fed under the latches of the raised needles is placed behind the hooks of the adjacent normally positioned needles on their back side awayfrom the latches.

After this the needles move on and al1 are forced downwardly by the action of thestationary cam e acting on the lugs i4 as they ride over the surface of such cam, during which operation yarn is fed to the hooks of all of the needles over the Lastex or rubber thread by the finger I0.

During all of these operations the latches of the needles are maintained in lowered position by cam ring d.

The needlesthen pass successively to stationary cam f where they are again forced downwardly by the operation of said cam on the lugs Il of the needles as they traverse the surface thereof. As such needles are lowered by cam f they successively clear the cam ring d so that the loops of yarn in this relative movement force the latch members I1 upwardly to place a closure across the hooks and retain the newly fed yarn trapped therein. As the needles are depressed still further by the action of the cam f the \Lastex or rubber thread, in the case of the odd needles, slides of! of the closed latch over the head of each of said needles, and in the case of the even needles, the.Lastex or rubber thread slides of! of the backs of the needle hooks in leaving each of those needles, and such thread is by this action floated or woven into the knitted article, as the needles in being further depressed pass through the old loops of yarn, shed them from their body, and pull the new yarn trapped in their hooks through the'old loops along with them thereby forming`a new loop each time a needle reaches the lower extremity of cam f. The needles then successively pass to stationary cam g where they are raised by its action on the lugs I4, as they-ride over it. 'I'he cam g raises such needles to their normal position and such operation forces the newly formed loop of yarn I down with the opening latch and over it, onto and around the body of the needle, thus completing a cycle in the operation of the machine,

so that they may again passon for the action of the jack cam a. This cycle is repeated again and again until the operation is completed.

Istex or rubber thread may be inserted in only a part ofthe circumference of the knitted article by only f g it to a limited number of needles each cycle, and such thread may be laid into only every second.. third, etc. welt of the knitted article by raising every third, fourth, etcgm needle by the jack cam a instead of every other needle.

While the method here described is presented in .connection with a fiat top revolving cylinder knitting machine, itis not to be considered to be limited thereto. v

Having thus described my invention, I claimv 1. The method of incorporating elastic thread into a knitted article comprising rotating a ring v*of knitting needles', successively raising each of a plurality of' said needles, feeding said thread below vthe latchof each of the raised needles,l

successively lowering said raised needles while raising normally positioned needles to place the thread behind said normally positioned needles. lowering each of said needles, feeding yarn to their hooks, and successively lowering each of said needles still further to knit the yarn and incorporate the elastic thread in the fabric.

2. A method of incorporating elastic thread into a knitted article comprising successively raising each of a plurality of needles of a circular series. feeding said thread below the latch of each of the raised needles, successively lowering said raised needles while raising normally positioned needles, lowering each of said needles and feeding yarn to their hooks, and successively lowering each of said needles still further to knit the yarn and incorporate the elastic thread in each of said needles, and successively lowering each of said needles to knit the yarn and incor- .i

porate the elastic thread in the fabric.

4. A knitting machine for incorporating elastic thread into a knitted article comprising a needle cylinder having a circular series of independent needles. cam means for successively raising a plurality of said needles, means for feeding said thread below the latch of each of the raised needles, cam means for successively lowering each of said raised needles and raising normally positioned needles to place the thread behind said normally positioned needles. cam means. for

lowering each of said needles. means for feedingl yarn totheir hooks. and cam means for successively lowering each 'of said needles to knit' the yarn and incorporate the elastic thread in the fabric.

5. A knitting machine for incorporating elastic thread into a knittediarticle comprising a needle cylinder having a circular series of independent needles. cam means for successively raising each of a plurality of said needles, means for feeding said thread below the latch of each of the raised needles, cam means for successively lowering each of said raised needles and raising normally positioned needles to place said thread behind said normally positioned need1es,'means for feeding yarn to the hooks of each of said needles, and cam means for successively lowering each oi said needles to knit the yarn and incorporate the elastic thread in the fabric.

vmnn. MORRIS. 

